


Reunion

by Thistlerose



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Comfort/Angst, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-15
Updated: 2016-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-14 01:34:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5724541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thistlerose/pseuds/Thistlerose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There was nothing he could have done, but Poe feels guilty about abandoning BB-8 on Jakku.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> Kind of a follow-up to [If I Should Fall Along the Way](http://archiveofourown.org/works/5605510), inspired by a comment I received as well as [this Tumblr post](http://thistlerosie.tumblr.com/post/137125089989/theladyragnell-jessicapava-i-let-out-a-very) (especially the tags).
> 
> I still haven't read the novelization, so I don't know what's really supposed to have happened.
> 
> And it was supposed to have been fluff, but ... yeah.

Aware that BB-8 was watching him, but too tired to give it much thought just then, Poe toed off his boots, flopped into bed, and jerked the thin blanket up over his shoulder. His eyes were closed before his cheek even touched the pillow. He thought he'd be asleep within seconds.

To his surprise, that wasn't the case. He rolled onto his left side, then, when that didn't work, he tried his right again. He repositioned his pillow a couple of times. Finally he opened his eyes and found BB-8 still watching him solemnly from halfway across the room. Curious now, Poe stretched a hand out toward the droid. "C'mere."

BB-8 emitted a faint chirrup and wobbled uncertainly from side to side.

With a sudden stab of concern, Poe was at once fully awake. He pushed himself up on one elbow and beckoned again to the droid. "Are you all right? Are you hurt? BB-8, come here, _please._ "

BB-8 rolled toward him obediently, stopping just a few inches from the bed. Poe pushed away the blanket and sat up. "Are you hurt?" he asked again, though now that his head was a little clearer, that possibility seemed highly unlikely; he'd run diagnostics himself almost immediately after returning from Starkiller Base. "Are you…?" _Worried about something?_ he thought. _About Finn, maybe? Nervous? Frightened? Was someone unkind to you?_ People used to chide him - back when he was still a new recruit - for projecting too much onto his droid. But Poe had grown up believing that droids were sentient, and BB-8, he was convinced, was more sentient than most.

He was considering another tactic when BB-8 chirped at him inquiringly.

"Am _I_ hurt?" The question shouldn't have startled him: he felt as if he'd been answering different variations of it non-stop for the past two days. _Are you all right, Dameron? Are you sure? Do you really feel ready to get back into the cockpit?_ Yes, yes, and yes, he'd replied with increasing annoyance.

BB-8 was watching him intently.

"Yes," said Poe. The word dragged itself from his lips, emerging as softly as a sigh. "That's why I never came back. I tried, I swear, but--" His body clenched against the memory of the crash, but it seeped in through the cracks. Sand and broken glass. Blood. Probably, he remembered thinking as he'd stared up at the desert sky, more blood than it was a good idea for a person to lose. He might have laughed when the Jakku slavers found him - deliriously, triumphantly - because it was clear to him that he wasn't going to make it, and so his very last heroic act was going to be _wasting their damn time_.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't forget, I--"

But he had, hadn't he? If only briefly, when he'd been sure he was going to die. "I'm sorry."

BB-8 moved an inch or so closer, not _quite_ close enough to brush the fabric of Poe's pants leg.

"Can you trust me again?"

The sound BB-8 made in response was one that Poe had never heard before from a droid: it was a kind of soft whirring, reminding him of the wind through dry leaves. There was a bird on Yavin IV that made a sound almost like that; he'd heard it all the time, growing up. A soothing sound. It was then that Poe realized his hands were shaking - and must have been for several minutes now. Why hadn't he noticed?

"You forgive me?"

No beeps or clicks, just that odd little hum. As Poe sank back against his pillows he kept one hand extended, letting his palm rest against BB-8's round metal frame. The droid vibrated gently against his skin. Soothing.

Poe said quietly, "I'm glad Finn found you. And Rey. I don't really know her yet, but Finn … he's a good man. I knew that almost as soon as I met him. I'm glad they looked after you. We'll go and see Finn tomorrow, first thing. We'll make sure he's really going to be all right." He had to be. It was just that simple.

BB-8 gave a short series of sharp clicks, then went back to humming.

"I'll go to sleep now," Poe promised. "You'll stay here?" It wasn't a request or a question, and it didn't require an answer; he knew that unless something truly extraordinary occurred, BB-8 would stay by his side all night. Comforted, overcome once again with exhaustion, Poe closed his eyes, let his body go limp.

And slept.

1/14/2016


End file.
